You guys have no idea how hard this chapter was to write. I started it almost three years ago, and I'm glad to have finally finished it. As the title implies, this story is about to get much darker. I will warn you now, bad things are going to happen and there won't be as many jokes. But I like my story, and I hope you do too. Review, please!
Same old routine, people. Dashed lines between the paragraphs. Oh, and since I forgot last time: I do not own the Teen Titans. I like to think that I own Crow and Rissy, but I don't own Raistlin's name.
Darkest Before Dawn
Raven sighed and pulled her knees up, resting her chin on them. She was on the roof of the White Temple, avoiding looking at the roof of the Black Temple that had served as her prison for most of her early life. Instead she looked at the skyline of Gypsophila, lit so much more elegantly than the familiar view of Jump City.
"Old habits die hard, I see."
Raven turned around to see Crow smiling at her. He sat down next to her, his longer legs stretched out over the roof's edge. Raven looked back out into the sky, staring at the last visible bit of sun on the horizon. Crow watched her. "I meant what I said, Rachel. It may have taken three years, but I was willing to wait then too. You aren't the Athar anymore, since you ran away, and even if you were I'm to be King and can do as I please. We can get married around Yuletide, and Rissy can be your maid of honor." Raven's eyes narrowed. "I'm not going to marry you, Crow." The dark-haired boy's expression was one of confusion. "But Rachel, you're still wearing my ring. Why else would you come back?" Raven pulled the garnet ring off her finger and handed it to a bewildered Crow. "I came back to fix the Seal, that's all. As soon as that's done, I'm going back to Earth with my friends. Whatever we had three years ago, Crow, I don't feel anymore." She stood to leave, but Crow grabbed her arm. "It's him, isn't it? The green-skinned boy?" Raven looked at him calmly. "I don't know what you're talking about." Crow released her, his mind reeling. "How could I not have seen it? The way he looks at you, how he's always with you… You two were together today too, weren't you? I know you came back with Rissy, but that doesn't mean anything." Raven kept any emotions that may have bubbled up in check. "Beast Boy is my friend, Crow. Nothing more." Crow laughed. "Maybe to you, but that can't be how he sees it. I should have known better than to think that you really cared about me. Why should the Athar care for any living thing?" He turned and left Raven watching him go, shivering in the steadily colder air. Raistlin stepped from the shadows. "I said much the same thing about you once, only with regards to respect. If it helps, I think you've changed a great deal since you left." Raven really did not want to be around her brother right now, but she also knew she didn't have much of a choice. "You haven't, and it doesn't help. What do you want?" Raistlin pushed his glasses back on his nose, an annoyingly superior-looking habit he'd had since they were young. "I want to fix the Seal tonight. Meet me at the Black Temple Gates at ten." Raven turned away. "Fine." Raistlin smiled as he followed the path Crow had taken back inside.
--------
Crow wanted to brush Raistlin off, but he knew that wasn't an option. "Deal's off, Raist." The purple-haired boy frowned. "The deal is not off. You haven't carried out your part of the bargain. I can't help it if my sister doesn't want you." Crow shoved Raistlin against the wall of the otherwise empty hallway. "Liar. You can make a love potion or something. Something magical." Raistlin smirked. "I could, but I can't guarantee the results would be to your satisfaction." Crow let go of the other boy. "I don't care as long as she loves me and only me." Raistlin brushed himself off. "Then we don't have any problems, do we? Besides, won't it be a nice revenge on the people who took Rachel away from you?" He smiled more at the angry glint in Crow's ice-blue eyes. "I thought so. Use whatever methods you see fit, but try not to make too much noise. I don't need anyone interrupting the spell my sister and I will be performing." Crow paused. "If I kill them, you'll make her love me?" He half-expected Raistlin to grin, but Raistlin never grinned. It would look feral if he did. "Of course, your highness." Crow left, but Raistlin remained in the hallway. "Not that either of you will be alive to know it," he said to himself once Crow was gone. "I will sit upon a throne far greater than that of Azarath, and your bones will lay crushed at my feet. Who will laugh and make jokes then, Prince Chromeros?" He turned into another, smaller hallway.
--------
Raven met her brother at the appointed time and followed him silently into the Black Temple. Passing through the empty chapel, where she had spoken with Tarisia just this afternoon- it seemed like ages ago- was easy enough, but the private halls and rooms held more memories, none of them pleasant or comforting. She didn't want to be here, didn't want to have to see any of this place ever again, didn't… Raven took a deep breath. The soft voice of her childhood called to her, whispering that she must control her emotions. Since she was six years old Fei had taught her to meditate to gain control over her powers. Fei had taught Raistlin too, but he'd needed it so much less. She knew now it was because his powers weren't as strong as hers. Though he'd never admit it, that was why Raistlin needed her now. She paused in her thoughts when she realized they had reached their destination. Raven stared at the Seal, a large stone circle bearing the Mark of Scath, Trigon's symbol. The Seal was set into the wall of this room deep beneath the Black Temple. Raven wondered if this was why the Black Temple had been built in the first place. She then turned to her brother. "What must I do?"
"Just repeat what I say."
Raistlin began the spell, with Raven repeating his words. When he tossed some sort of dust in the air, the Seal cracked right down the middle. Raven stopped chanting, staring at her brother. He grinned, and almost insane gleam in his eyes. "It's beginning." Raven swallowed hard. "What's beginning? What just happened?" Raistlin laughed, the gleam in his eyes growing brighter by the second. "Exactly what I wanted to happen, sister dear." Raven shook her head. "I don't understand."
"He wanted your help to break the Seal, not fix it," Beast Boy said. He entered the small room, half-dragging a reluctant Crow. "While your brother brought you here, this guy tried to kill the rest of us." Raven stared at Crow, who hung his head. "I'm sorry, Rachel. However, I could not kill your friends. Instead I told them what Raistlin was planning, and he-" Crow gestured at Beast Boy "-brought me here." Raven glanced at Beast Boy. The changeling was glaring at Crow. Across the room, Raistlin's eyes narrowed. "So you've turned traitor," he hissed at Crow. Raven's twin smiled, and a chill went up everyone's spines. "Even better." He pulled Crow away from Beast Boy with his powers and slammed the Azarathian prince up against the Seal. Raven gasped and moved forward, but Beast Boy grabbed her arm and held her back. She fought him, and Beast Boy wrapped his arms around her tightly as they watched Crow struggle against the bonds of Raistlin's power. "Let me go," Raven hissed at her teammate. "Not on your life," Beast Boy replied. Raistlin laughed again, and Raven shivered. He turned to her and Beast Boy. "My dear sister, I truly thought you were smarter than this. Yet you believed every lie I told you, and now you allow that boy to cling to you while the one you once loved awaits his doom. Living on Earth has made you soft." Beast Boy's eyes narrowed in anger, but Raven couldn't tear her eyes away from her brother. Raistlin casually removed a dagger hidden up his sleeve. "In our childhood, Rachel, I recall that we both spent a great deal of time reading any prophecy we could find that mentioned our father, though of course for different reasons. You wished to destroy him. I wished to free him. You may remember a particular writing that said that while many spells could damage it, only the blood of a traitor would truly break the Seal." The half-demon mage eyed Crow. "Our Crown Prince Chromeros is a traitor on several levels, is he not, not the least of which being to all of Azarath?"
"No…" Raven breathed. Crow was shaking by this point. "Raistlin, please!" he whispered.
"Please?" Raistlin cocked his head. "Are you begging me for your life, Crow? You, everyone's favorite since you moved to Gypsophila? The heir apparent to the throne of Azarath, begging me to spare his life?" Raven's brother laughed. "Fool." He stabbed Crow in the abdomen. Crow choked on his cry of pain. Raven cried out as well, but Beast Boy still held her back. Raistlin grinned. "It would be so easy to just kill you, you know. I could have just stabbed you in the heart and been done with it. But I want to see you in pain. I want to hear you scream. Perhaps you'll even beg some more. I will enjoy this, if no one else." He drew the dagger diagonally across Crow's chest, creating a gash deep enough to make Crow shriek, but not deep enough to kill him. Raven was shaking uncontrollably, but neither she nor Beast Boy could look away. Raistlin's dagger sliced Crow's chest open again, now making an X. Crow grimaced but this time made no noise. Raistlin frowned. "That won't do at all." He plunged the dagger into the first wound and twisted it. Crow screamed, and so did Raven. "Stop it!" Raistlin glanced at her. "Soft," he murmured, and he stabbed Crow in the chest, right where the two lines met. Blood covered Raistlin's hand and stained his white sleeve, and Crow choked again on the blood flowing from his lips. Raistlin smiled as the other young man died. The Seal behind Crow's lifeless body began to glow. "At last it begins," Raistlin whispered almost reverently. Crow's body vanished, and a red-skinned hand, far larger than any human's, reached through the Seal. Beast Boy stepped back, pulling Raven with him. This time she did not resist. The hand grasped Raistlin, who panicked. "No," he cried. "No, I'm the one who freed you! Don't-"
His last words were cut off as the hand clenched, crushing Raistlin. Blood bubbled from his lips and spurted from between Trigon's- for it was his hand- fingers. Raven and Beast Boy both gasped in horror. Beast Boy tried to pull her towards the exit, but Raven was frozen in place. "C'mon, Raye!" the changeling shouted, making himself heard over the horrible whooshing sound coming from the newly created portal. "Crow's gone; there's nothing you can do! Raistlin got what he deserved! Come on!" His voice failed as the rest of Trigon came through the portal. He turned to Raven, only to stare in fear. Gone was the pale, purple-haired girl he knew so well, replaced by a being with long black hair, red skin, and black eyes. But she still had Raven's general features and clothes. "Raye?" Beast Boy whispered, unable to speak louder than that. He was ignored. The girl bowed to Trigon. "Father, I am pleased at your return." Trigon seemed to smile. "I too am pleased, Aura, servant of Death. Your own return is most fortuitous." Aura- Beast Boy could not call the creature standing before him Raven and had already let go of her hand- smiled wanly. "Initiated by your presence, Father." Trigon's eyes shifted to Beast Boy, who shivered involuntarily. "Who is this, daughter?" Aura turned around and pursed her lips. "I cannot seem to recall him. He looks weak." Trigon laughed, which sent a worse tingle up Beast Boy's spine. "He may be of some use. Here." Aura accepted whatever Trigon held out and looked at it. She smiled. "The Seeds. Perfect." She turned back to Beast Boy, who automatically stepped back. She blew the Seed at him, almost like blowing a kiss. Beast Boy blinked, and then everything went black.
--------
Robin paced the living room of the suite in the White Temple the Titans had been given to share. "They've been gone too long."
Cyborg rolled his eyes from his position, sprawled out on the white couch. "Man, will you chill? BB and Crow probably got there in plenty of time to stop whatever Raven's brother was planning."
Starfire watched Robin from her seat on a well-cushioned white armchair, her green eyes worried. She turned to Cyborg. "Robin has a point. If our friends were successful in their quest, would they not have returned by this time?" It was perfectly natural to the Titans that the door would open right then and Beast Boy would come in. After all, they had just been talking about him, and that was how things worked. "See?" Cyborg said. Robin turned furiously to his teammate. "Where have you been? Where are Raven and Crow?" Beast Boy just sniffed at him and snarled. He then stalked back out of the suite. Cyborg blinked. "Well, that was weird." The Titans heard screams from the upper floors of the Temple, where the priests and priestesses, including the Azar, lived. Robin swore fiercely. Before they could rush out, Beast Boy appeared at the door again. He growled low in his throat until they stepped back. A figure appeared in the shadows of the hallway.
"Good boy."
Aura came out of the shadows. Beast Boy went on all fours and crawled over to her. She petted him lazily and smiled chillingly at the Titans. "I remember you three, I think. My little pet certainly does. He knew you would get in my way and so he guarded the door. Convenient, really, since I was occupied elsewhere." Robin glared at her. "Who are you?" Aura pretended to pout. "I'm hurt, Robin. Don't you remember your dear friend Raven?" Starfire's eyes began to glow. "You are not our friend Raven!" Robin held out his hand to stop her. Aura laughed. "You're right, I'm not. Not anymore. I am now and forever Aura, daughter of Trigon and servant of Death. To whom, incidentally, I recently paid homage by killing the Azar." None of the Titans could speak. Aura smiled. "Well, I have other business to attend to. The world can destroy itself, but that takes too long. Ta!" She turned to leave, snapping her fingers to summon Beast Boy.
The Titans didn't follow.
---End Chapter Three---
I apologize for the cliffhanger, but you'll understand why when the next chapter goes up. I should be finishing that soon. Review, please, even if you hate what just happened!